4 alums act, direct, light new play

By Mary Rose Fissinger

An alumni-directed play opening Friday night and running through October stars two alumni who are now faculty. A fourth is handling the lighting.

Upper school English teacher Adam Howard &rsquo;93, middle school history teacher Isaac Laskin &rsquo;98, and alums Dan Fishbach &rsquo;94 and Will Adashek &rsquo;01 are working together on Nicky Silver&rsquo;s “The Maiden&rsquo;s Prayer.”

“Essentially, the play examines the inter-relationships of five complex individuals &mdash; siblings, life-long friends, spouses, new friends, ex-lovers &mdash; all in search of ideal love.&nbsp; The main action ranges from quirky comedy to varying losses that exist on a pretty epic scale,” Howard said.

Howard has acted with Fishbach in several shows at Harvard-Westlake (“A Midsummer Night&rsquo;s Dream,” “Hair” and “Gypsy”)and at Kenyon College, where they both were undergrads. After college, Fishbach decided to switch his attention to directing.

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“I tried briefly to make it as an actor, with minor success. &nbsp;I realized that my interest and arguably my talent was directing,” Fishbach said. &nbsp;

Fishbach directed Howard in “Private Eyes,” at the end of last summer.

“We enjoyed working together and decided to collaborate on another production,” Howard said.

“When I heard that&nbsp;Adam and Dan&nbsp;were putting up a play, I jumped at the chance to be a part of it,” Laskin said. Fishbach directed Laskin in a one-act play as a part of Ted Walch&rsquo;s Summer Intensive Acting Workshop in 1999. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Laskin was involved in performing arts when he was a student at Harvard-Westlake.

“The first show I ever did was called &lsquo;The Diviners,&rsquo;” which they are actually doing again this year at the middle school, when I was in ninth grade.&nbsp; Once I moved on to the Upper School I kept at it, doing six shows in my three years there.&nbsp; I was exceptionally lucky to have gotten to work with Ted Walch, who remains to this day the finest acting teacher I have ever had,” Laskin said.

Laskin has returned to the campus recently &ndash; this time as a history teacher. He is filling in for Rosemary Van Vlijmen, teaching seventh and ninth grade history.

“It&rsquo;s very cool to get&nbsp;to experience Harvard-Westlake&nbsp;from a teacher&rsquo;s perspective.&nbsp; It has made me appreciate just how hard my teachers worked… how dedicated they were to my educational experience,” Laskin said.&nbsp;

Along with actors Howard and Laskin and director Fishbach, Adashek is the lighting designer. He was involved in the technical aspects of shows in high school.&nbsp;